


resolution (resolved)

by a_stankova



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode AU: 2018 New Year's Resolution (Doctor Who), F/F, Fix-It of Sorts, Thasmin if you squint, a bit gappy, just an idea, very short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 16:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18759715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_stankova/pseuds/a_stankova
Summary: ‘the Dalek was originally going to attach itself to one of the companions, and then the Doctor’





	resolution (resolved)

**Author's Note:**

> a very, VERY short idea that would not leave me alone

When the Doctor realises, her bones go cold.

 

They end up at the warehouse, hurried and half-breathing, and they’ve never been happier to see Yasmin Khan but they’ve also never been more afraid.

 

The Doctor thinks that she, for the first time in this body, is truly and properly afraid.

 

It hangs from her shoulders like a backpack, horrid and leeching into her skin. Yaz looks at them, looks at the Doctor, but somehow her eyes have gone grey, dull in defeat, and that niggling feeling they have that someone is watching them? Well, that’s true, because something is, and it’s staring out at them through Yaz’s eyes. A recon scout, the most dangerous thing to come out of Skaro – and it’s got Yaz.

 

_ It’s got Yaz. _

 

But no, the Doctor thinks, there’s no way that she lets this pass. “Yaz! Yaz, I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me.” The Doctor grabs her hands, steps in close, voice shaking with desperation. “You have to fight this, Yaz,” she whispers. “I know you can. You’re stronger than it is.”

 

Yaz’s pupil flicker then, caught between their usual chocolate brown and a new, violent lavender, and the Doctor pounces, seeks to exploit this crack in the facade. “Come on,” she presses insistently, stepping even closer and raising one hand to Yaz’s jawline, where deft fingers trace the sharp jut of her skin. “Come back to us.”

 

And then, so quiet it’s barely audible, she pleads, soft against her face: “ _Come back to me_.”

 

Suddenly, light finds home in her eyes again, bleeds through the haze of purple dominance until finally, _finally,_ the Doctor can see Yasmin Khan. “Yaz,” the Doctor whispers, stretching tentative fingers to brush against the girl’s shoulder. “Yaz? Talk to me.” The hope that builds inside her is swift, momentous, unlike anything she’s ever felt, but it’s gone as quick as it came, crushed by the hand that suddenly locks around her throat.

 

“ _Pathetic,”_ Yaz growls, only it’s not Yaz, this could never be Yaz and _goddamn this Dalek_. The Doctor’s breath hitches as she’s propelled backwards, sent crashing unceremoniously to the ground, as her companion sneers down at her.

 

_“Your pet humans make you weak.”_

 

“It’s never stopped me before,” the Doctor threatens lowly, pushing herself back to her feet.

 

_“How many of your companions have died at your hand?”_

 

“Let her go,” the Doctor growls, her eyes going black.

 

_“If only she knew how many had gone before her. How many will go after.”_

 

“You are not taking her from me!” the Doctor snaps angrily. The anger inside her right now is definitely new in this blood, definitely frightening, but she knows deep down that it’s nothing she hasn’t felt before. She felt it when her planet burned, when her planet lived, when Rose was stolen, when River sacrificed herself. She feels it again now, fierce and merciless, with Yaz standing in front of her, on the cusp of death at the hands of her oldest enemy.

 

 

\----------------------------------------

 

 

The Doctor is stronger – has always been stronger. She fights just enough to open the TARDIS doors, right over the supernova. They all see it in her eyes; fear, regret, resignation. She knows she’s going to die.

 

Ryan has never moved more fluidly in his life. He jumps, yells out against the pull of the supernova and grabs the Doctor’s hand. Yaz is right beside him, grabbing her other hand, screaming for her to hold on. Graham holds onto Ryan, grabs the Doctor’s arm, and together they pull, as hard and as furious as they can.

 

The three of them should not be able to overcome the pull of a supernova. But then again, they are three of the strongest people on Earth.

 

The TARDIS doors slam shut and the four of them tumble inside, a tangle of limbs on the floor. The Doctor is limp between them, shaky and breathing hard, and they surround her like a shield, reach for her arms and move the hair from her face so she can see that everything is okay, that they’re all okay, that they’re safe now.

 

They startle at the gasping sob that rips out of her mouth as she slumps, burying her face in Yaz’s shoulder and letting her exhaustion seep into her bones. Yaz wraps an arm around her, fighting back tears as Ryan and Graham offer their arms for comfort, too. The four of them sit there for a long time, huddled and safe together, until their breathing evens out again, and the beating of their five hearts slow enough for them to know that they’re alive.


End file.
